Special Charges - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended				1 Months Ended		9 Months Ended		3 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013	Sep. 30, 2014	Sep. 30, 2013 Attendant	Sep. 30, 2014 Voluntary early out program Attendant	Sep. 30, 2014 Voluntary early out program Maximum	Oct. 31, 2013 International Association of Machinists	Sep. 30, 2014 Venezuelan bolívar fuerte	Sep. 30, 2014 Permanently grounded Embraer ERJ 135 aircraft Aircraft	Sep. 30, 2013 Temporarily grounded Boeing 787 aircraft	Sep. 30, 2014 Cleveland Weighted Average
Special Charges [Line Items]
Severance and benefits	$ 6,000,000		$ 58,000,000	$ 14,000,000
Percentage of flight reductions in average daily departures from Cleveland											60.00%
Costs associated with aircraft									66,000,000	18,000,000
Number of leased aircraft									21
Lease expiry year									2018
Number of aircraft in operation									9
Impairment of assets held for disposal			33,000,000
Venezuela local currency loss			21,000,000
Unrestricted cash balance held as Venezuelan bolivars								100,000,000
Severance payment per participant						100,000
Number of targeting participants offering to retire early					2,100
Number of flight attendants voluntarily on leave				1,300
Labor agreement costs		127,000,000		127,000,000			127,000,000
Adjustment of reserves for certain legal matters		34,000,000
Gain related to contract termination				5,000,000
Loss on sale of asset				(2,000,000)
Accrual severance and medical costs	$ 70,000,000	$ 29,000,000	$ 70,000,000	$ 29,000,000
Severance-related accrual expected payment date			2015